Married Children and Christmas About This Page:

[Belle*]

We each get stockings at both of our parents houses. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] We get individual gifts unless we specifically request something that is a "couple" gift. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smileysanta.gif[/img]

[HiddenMickey]

You should give your child the stocking for their own house. And buy one for the spouse. Then put a small gift from each of them in the stockings. That would be a very nice way to start them on their own traditions.

[denwol]

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My mother doesn't have stockings for any of us any more. We took our stockings when we moved out.
She does buy gifts for both, some joint gifts and some individual ones.

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[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yeahthat.gif[/img]

Also, the amount spend did become less after we moved out or had children.....

[Caldercup]

We put up stockings for everyone -- more for the "look" on the fireplace rather than anything else. Only the kids (known as "the short people" in our family [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] ) get anything other than candy, nuts and oranges in their stocking. (Kids get a small book, toys and a stuffed animal peeking out of the top!)

We also have recently begun only gifting the kiddies. I feel cheap admitting that I spend an average of $25 per niece/nephew and about $50 on my dad and Joan. The siblings don't do gifts anymore and we concentrate on the kids.

My Calder budget is about $200 and Santa tends to spend in the range of $100.

My biggest ticket items at Christmas are for food (DH *must* have his standing rib roast [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) and the tree, which costs around $80-90 in our area for the size tree we get (9 feet).

My dad and Joan give $200 to the DH and me. (Which, when I write that, doesn't seem equitable since we spent about 1/4 that amount on them [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] )

Eileen

[tinkerbellsfan]

My mom puts up stockings for all of us, she only fills them if we are spending Christmas at their house. She gives us each seperate gifts and also one gift together.

[WDWfan]

Christmas is my Mom's thing, so everyone gets a stocking. The years my brother and his family don't come out she fills them and mails them out with the stipulation that they send the empty ones back to be reused each year. My DSis and I have the ones my grandmother made for us when we were kids.

My Mom also has a large budget for presents for each of us. If there are couple presents to be bought she takes half out of each member of the couple's budget. Last year was my first Christmas after the divorce and I think she added part of my ex's budget onto mine, but I think she's back to the basic amount this year. She's very careful to always spend the same amount on each of us.

My in-laws just gave gifts to the grandkids.

Joan - I think everyone does what they're comfortable with. My parents can afford to spend a fair amount and it gives my DMom a lot of pleasure to do it. We don't expect it and would be fine without it, but as she puts it - She likes seeing us enjoy the gifts and if she doesn't spend it on us now, she'll just leave it to us when she's gone. If I were you I'd do what you're comfortable with.

[JoanW]

It looks like a variety of ways to do this. I think I may give Camille her stocking to hang at her place. My mom doesn't hang one at hers, and Pat's mother never hung his once he left either. So that's how it's going to be here too. They need to start their own traditions now.

[Bert & Sully]

Sounds like you figured it out!

[Chrissi]

My mom doesn't do stockings for both of us. Neither does my dad. They both give us a "them" gift - usually cash to spend however we like. DMIL no longer does stockings for her kids now that they've all moved out, but she was doing just one stocking the last few years for her youngest son until he moved out. Now, she and her SO will give us a "them" cash gift of some sort and some smaller individual gifts. I've noticed that since they have a very small family, they tend to give more. It was the same with our wadding. DH's family gave larger cash gifts than mine because waddings are a more rare event for them.

BTW - my dad still hangs my stocking up at his house because his hanging alone does look kind of sad. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] My mom still has my childhood stocking (and my brother's), but she won't let us have them and as far as I know she doesn't hang them. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]